Segerstrom Arts Center holds groundbreaking for 3 projects
Segerstrom Center for the Arts held a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday to celebrate the center’s future in three developed projects.
The initiatives, supported by a $68-million “Next Act” campaign, has secured more than $42 million to date, with a $13.5-million lead gift from philanthropists Julianne and George Argyros.
The plans are structured to reinvent the performing arts center as a more-inclusive cultural institution with a new level of public engagement, educational outreach and programming.
The aim of the Julianne and George Argyros Plaza is to renew the existing Arts Plaza as a public gathering place and town square that offers new guest amenities and a public stage for free events and performances.
The second project, Center Without Boundaries program, will forge partnerships between the center and noncultural groups throughout the county to address the needs of individual and diverse communities.
The center will also welcome the Center for Dance and Innovation, an addition to the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School, which will include the commissioning of new ballets, dance training in multiple genres and new forms of engagement with the performing arts through onsite, off-campus and online programs.
“Our great opportunity, and motivating institutional obligation, is to now unlock the Center’s full potential to effectively engage all of the wonderfully diverse communities of Orange County,” Terrence Dwyer, president of Segerstrom Center for the Arts, said in a statement. “By reinventing ourselves this way, we are entering an exciting new phase in the Center’s history of artistic achievement and community impact.”
Twitter: @KathleenLuppi
